A $4bn Regional Rail Revival project has veered off track, with three country line upgrades running months late and facing huge cost blowouts.
Country passengers were told that a Gippsland line upgrade, the second stage of a Warrnambool line upgrade, and the third stage of a Shepparton line upgrade all would be finished last year.
But problems with installing new signalling — the traffic light system used by trains to safely run on the network — as well as construction sector chaos have torpedoed timelines and will blow budgets.
The RRR project, first announced in 2017 by then premier Daniel Andrews who said “regional Victorians deserve public transport they can count on”, includes state and federal funding and has been gradually expanded to include upgrades of every country line.
Track duplications to allow for more services, level crossing upgrades to detect modern trains, and new or enhanced stations were part of the plan.
Transport sources told the Saturday Herald Sun that signalling problems were causing problems across the network, with a shortage of specialist engineers exacerbating delays.
An insider says passengers will wait 12 to 18 months for benefits promised on the Gippsland, Shepparton and Warrnambool lines.
Difficulties recruiting specialists from interstate and overseas during Covid-19 border closures, and due to a logjam of major projects across the country, are still flowing through, with upgrades still in the signalling design phase.
One rail insider said passengers would be waiting 12 to 18 months for benefits promised on the Gippsland, Shepparton and Warrnambool lines, and hefty cost blowouts were inevitable.
Another said the RRR “doesn’t seem to be a priority” for the government, which has tens of billions of dollars of projects on the go in metropolitan Melbourne.
The government is refusing to reveal any revised timelines, with a spokesperson for Rail Projects Victoria saying they would be set “in due course”.
Opposition transport infrastructure spokesman David Southwick said country Victorians were paying the price for Labor’s inability to manage projects and money, while Premier Jacinta Allan continued to promote a planned multi-billion dollar rail tunnel under Melbourne called the Suburban Rail Loop.
Opposition public transport spokesman Matthew Guy also took a swipe at the SRL saying “Labor’s focus should be on delivering projects it promised, rather than starting a new one that no one asked for”.
Opposition transport infrastructure spokesman David Southwick said country Victorians were paying the price for Labor’s inability to manage projects and money. Picture: David Crosling
While three of the line upgrades are off the rails, a spokesperson for Rail Projects Victoria said there have been 200 extra weekly services since the RRR began, 18 new or upgraded stations, and VLocity trains added to Bairnsdale, Albury and Shepparton lines.
“We’re working as fast as we can to deliver these important projects so that communities in Gippsland, Shepparton and Geelong region can access more frequent services and deliver modern VLocity trains on the Warrnambool Line for the first time,” they said.
They said major construction is “progressing well” on the South Geelong to Waurn Ponds duplication, and is expected to wrap up later this year.
The RPV says delayed Gippsland, Shepparton and Warrnambool upgrades were hit by “challenges facing the building and construction sector nationally and the complexities of rail signalling”.
Problems installing new signalling as well as construction sector chaos have torpedoed timelines and will blow budgets. Picture: David Crosling
It expects to finish civil builds over the “next few months”, while signalling and commissioning — operational testing for the new infrastructure — would follow.
Federal Wannon MP, Dan Tehan, said the former federal coalition government provided $200m to the Warrnambool upgrade but was yet to see results.
“Once again we have seen gross incompetence and delay in delivery by the Labor state government,” he said.
Stage 3 of the Shepparton Line Upgrade will enable nine daily return services on weekdays between Shepparton and Melbourne – an increase from five per day – and enable trains to travel faster on the line.
Stage 2 of the Warrnambool Line Upgrade will enable modern VLocity trains to travel to and from Warrnambool for the first time, while the Gippsland Line Upgrade will enable trains every 40 minutes off-peak, between Traralgon and Melbourne.
Source: Herald Sun
